The Visual Effects Society (VES) held the 23rd Annual VES Awards this week, honoring outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation in film, animation, television, commercials, video games and special venues over the past year.
Industry guests gathered at The Beverly Hilton hotel Tuesday to celebrate VFX talent in 25 awards categories and special honorees. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes received the top photoreal feature award. Dune: Part Two won the most photoreal feature wins, with four awards. The Wild Robot was named top animated film, winning four awards. Shōgun was named best photoreal episode and won three awards; The Penguin also garnered three awards. And Coca-Cola: The Heroes topped the commercial field.
Comedy duo The Sklar Brothers made their debut as VES Awards hosts. Actor Keanu Reeves presented Golden Globe-winning actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada with the VES Award for Creative Excellence. Renowned computer graphics researcher Paul Debevec, VES, presented Virtual Reality/Immersive Technology Pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie with the Georges Méliès Award. Writer-director Michael Dougherty presented Academy Award-winning filmmaker and VFX Supervisor Takashi Yamazaki with the Visionary Award. Award presenters included: Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Krys Marshall, Mary Mouser, Russell Hornsby, Tanner Buchanan, Eric Winter, and Autodesk’s Senior Director, Business Strategy Rachael Appleton presented the VES-Autodesk Student Award.
“As we celebrate the 23rd Annual VES Awards, we’re honored to shine a light on outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation,” said VES Chair Kim Davidson. “The honorees and their work represent best-in-class visual effects — work that engages audiences and enhances the art of storytelling. The VES Awards is the only venue that showcases and honors these outstanding global artists across a wide range of disciplines, and we are extremely proud of all our winners and nominees!”
Check out the full list of nominees announced in January here.
The winners are:
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Erik Winquist
Julia Neighly
Paul Story
Danielle Immerman
Rodney Burke
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Civil War
David Simpson
Michelle Rose
Freddy Salazar
Chris Zeh
J.D. Schwalm
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
Chris Sanders
Jeff Hermann
Jeff Budsberg
Jakob Hjort Jensen
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
Shōgun “Anjin”
Michael Cliett
Melody Mead
Philip Engström
Ed Bruce
Cameron Waldbauer
OUTSTANDING SUPPORTING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL EPISODE
The Penguin “Bliss”
Johnny Han
Michelle Rose
Goran Pavles
Ed Bruce
Devin Maggio
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A REAL-TIME PROJECT
Star Wars Outlaws
Stephen Hawes
Lionel Le Dain
Benedikt Podlesnigg
Andi-Bogdan Draghici
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola “The Heroes”
Greg McKneally
Antonia Vlasto
Ryan Knowles
Fabrice Fiteni
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A SPECIAL VENUE PROJECT
D23; Real-Time Rocket
Evan Goldberg
Alyssa Finley
Jason Breneman
Alice Taylor
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Better Man; Robbie Williams
Milton Ramirez
Andrea Merlo
Seoungseok Charlie Kim
Eteuati Tema
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot; Roz
Fabio Lignini
Yukinori Inagaki
Owen Demers
Hyun Huh
OUTSTANDING CHARACTER IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME PROJECT
Ronja the Robber’s Daughter; Vildvittran the Queen Harpy
Nicklas Andersson
David Allan
Gustav Åhren
Niklas Wallén
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; The Arrakeen Basin
Daniel Rhein
Daniel Anton Fernandez
Marc James Austin
Christopher Anciaume
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot; The Forest
John Wake
He Jung Park
Woojin Choi
Shane Glading
OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENT IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME
PROJECT
Shōgun; Osaka
Manuel Martinez
Phil Hannigan
Keith Malone
Francesco Corvino
OUTSTANDING CG CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune: Part Two; Arrakis
Greig Fraser
Xin Steve Guo
Sandra Murta
Ben Wiggs
OUTSTANDING MODEL IN A PHOTOREAL OR ANIMATED PROJECT
Alien: Romulus; Renaissance Space Station
Waldemar Bartkowiak
Trevor Wide
Matt Middleton
Ben Shearman
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN A PHOTOREAL FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Atomic Explosions and Wormriding
Nicholas Papworth
Sandy la Tourelle
Lisa Nolan
Christopher Phillips
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wild Robot
Derek Cheung
Michael Losure
David Chow
Nyoung Kim
OUTSTANDING EFFECTS SIMULATIONS IN AN EPISODE, COMMERCIAL, GAME CINEMATIC, OR REAL-TIME
PROJECT
Shōgun “Broken to the Fist”; Landslide
Dominic Tiedeken
Heinrich Löwe
Charles Guerton
Timmy Lundin
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A FEATURE
Dune: Part Two; Wormriding, Geidi Prime, and the Final Battle
Christopher Rickard
Francesco Dell'Anna
Paul Chapman
Ryan Wing
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN AN EPISODE
The Penguin “After Hours”
Jonas Stuckenbrock
Karen Cheng
Eugene Bondar
Miky Girón
OUTSTANDING COMPOSITING & LIGHTING IN A COMMERCIAL
Coca-Cola; “The Heroes”
Ryan Knowles
Alex Gabucci
Jack Powell
Dan Yargici
OUTSTANDING SPECIAL (PRACTICAL) EFFECTS IN A PHOTOREAL PROJECT
The Penguin; Safe Guns
Devin Maggio
Johnny Han
Cory Candrilli
Alexandre Prod’homme
EMERGING TECHNOLOGY AWARD
Here; Neural Performance Toolset
Jo Plaete
Oriel Frigo
Tomas Koutsky
Matteo Olivieri-Dancey
OUTSTANDING VISUAL EFFECTS IN A STUDENT PROJECT
Pittura (entry from ARTFX – Schools of Digital Arts, France)
Adam Lauriol
Titouan Lassère
Rémi Vivenza
Helloïs Marre
Win 'The Art of DreamWorks Dog Man'! 
